Hollywood Domination Chapter 128: Expanding version

Although "Pirates 2" has long been decided to shoot a sequel, Jenny didn't see the script until she went to Hamilton. Compared with the first one, which she has already prepared and can't wait for, Gore seems to be a little hesitant about the second one. , This is also a common problem with sequels. Usually this is also the time when the audience survey of the previous film is dug out from the pile of old papers. The director and producer will use various data reports to summarize the successful experience of the previous film, and then confirm the next film. The basic structure, even the role of each character and the key time, as for the plot, it is secondary. Of course, there is also the calculation of the length of time that special effects can be used according to the budget, but for key films like "Pirates of the Caribbean", the budget is not a problem, and it doesn't matter if it is slightly over budget, so in this regard, Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore . Verbinski can take it easy.

Because there are too many factors to consider in the sequel, the director often cannot let go, so generally speaking, the evaluation of the sequel is generally weaker than that of the first episode. Jenny also felt this way when she read the script of the sequel—the script has always been It was not finally settled until April, but she was filming "Sally" at the time, so she didn't watch it in order not to be distracted, but waited until the filming was over before finding time to read it.

Same as the first episode, the main plot line of "Pirates 2" is not much different from the parallel world version. They are all about Captain Jack's old friend, David Jones hunting down Captain Jack. Due to the expected large number of special effects and fighting scenes, the script is very thin, and there is almost nothing to watch in terms of literary drama. Compared with "Chicago", "The Fifth Sally" and even "Prada", "Pirates 2" has no interpretation at all For a difficult film, Jenny tried to read the script, and she found that with her current strength, she can even perform this role well without empathy, but empathy will save effort, and the style of "Pirate 1" is also more Just in the same vein. ——Although she herself has never been proud of her progress in acting, on the contrary, the more she goes into Hollywood, the more frightened she feels, and she feels lucky, but there is no need to belittle herself. Maybe she is not very talented, but she is not stupid. Four years After her high-intensity acting career, Jenny's own strength must have improved by leaps and bounds. Even if she leaves Golden Finger now, she can still make a living in commercial blockbusters, and maybe even do well.

It should be said that from a commercial point of view, the success of "Pirate 2" will not be a big problem, but from the artistic value point of view, it is completely scum. The first part may still be fresh, but the second part is a bit repetitive. When it comes to the third part, everyone is just watching the excitement. As far as Jenny's memory and her own opinion are concerned, the "Pirate" tetralogy should follow such a change curve - the box office is getting higher and higher, but the word of mouth is getting lower and lower.

Just like the action movies and gangster movies of the last century, this kind of movie that relies on lively scenes, American humor, and star charm has always been able to win the box office, so it has a reason to exist. Jenny does not intend to use her current Her influence pushed the crew to change the script—she had suffered enough from "Prada", and she never wanted to repeat that dreadful process again, at least not on the big production of "Pirates of the Caribbean". Her newly-baked A-lister should be able to withstand the failure of the investment grade of "The Fifth Sally", but if the "Pirate" series with a budget of nearly 200 million is thrown away, the godhead will definitely drop. Will she be able to get similar opportunities in the future? It's hard to say.

The makeup day of "Pirate 2" is also the day when several main actors reunite together for the first time. Jenny and Josh came to the studio together, of course Johnny and Bill Nye who played David Jones , along with director Verbinski and producer Bruckheimer. When the two of them walked into the studio, there were ten makeup artists milling about four of them, mainly because Bill had the most people because he needed to do special effects makeup.

"Johnny." Jenny sometimes wonders if there is any code in Hollywood to issue among producers, the order in which Jerry Bruckheimer greets is exactly the same as everyone's choices in recent months, " Jenny!"

With a smile on his face, he patted Jenny on the shoulder affectionately, "Girl, you are getting more and more beautiful-Josh, how are you doing recently? You lucky boy! The premiere of "Ahead" In a few days, right?"

Josh smiled at him docilely, "Hi, Jerry - Gore -"

"Long time no see, Jenny." Gore also said politely to Jenny. With only one successful "Pirate" and Elizabeth's popularity, Gore, who just dropped a "Weatherman" on the street, is no longer able to use his position to imply anything. And if it is based on charm, Jenny is crazy to be with him. A piece of meat that can be eaten but not allowed to be eaten by herself is more comfortable than a piece of meat that cannot be eaten at all. Now, there is no need to worry about or avoid anything.

"Hi, Gore." She showed a friendly smile to Gore. ugly. "Are you ready? We're going on board again."

Jenny is not the only one who suffers from seasickness, and Gore is also one. Prepare to increase the amount of your acting, of course, there will be a double, but there are also many scenes that require you to play in person to challenge Wia."

Jenny has not acted in an action movie so far. Of course, there are some running and chasing scenes in "Pirate 1", and some joke-like fighting scenes, but that is not the same as the handsome flipping in the air, real fencing and There is still a big difference between punching and kicking, she widened her eyes, "Really? I don't know at all."

"We just made a decision, maybe they haven't had time to inform you." Gore said, "But don't worry, this is a fantasy movie after all, and there won't be too many real swords and guns. It's just a moment We just need to try one more martial arts makeup."

What more can Jenny say? Although it was a bit sudden, it could be considered a breakthrough—I can only sigh secretly that I have worked so hard. I thought I was enjoying the scenery, traveling in the Caribbean, and enjoying a shooting trip with a loose budget. Now there is another difficulty. Really every movie is not reassuring.

After a day of makeup testing, it was very late and she was very tired, so she could only wait for the interview with "People" the next day to prepare for the upcoming filming of "Pirate" and the just-finished filming of "Sally" " did some interviews, and hurried to Dameng in the afternoon to ask about her business career when she left.

"You asked Lindsay Lohan if he was addicted to drugs." Jim had been waiting in the dream early in the morning. The company rented half a floor in an office building on the inner side of Sunset Boulevard. Not long after signing the lease, there was a lot of mess everywhere, and now the whole office has a very Cesare flavor-minimalist, clean decoration, few furniture in several offices, but it looks very tasteful. It's just that Jenny's office has been vacant, so there is still a taste of decoration, "I followed up this matter before, and Lindsay seemed to have had marijuana problems before, but she has been cleaned recently, and it will not affect "Unlucky Cupid". ". Her agent said they could provide last month's drug test report--in addition, Fox seemed not very happy about our questioning."

Nominally, Jim is the person who manages the film affairs for Jenny, and Cesare just attends meetings with Jim from time to time in the name of 'Jenny Request'. It's also common and there's nothing wrong with it. So of course both Jim and Cesare are well aware of the company's affairs, Jenny looked at Lindsay's information thoughtfully, "Cesare, what do you think?"

"Lindsay is very popular now, and she is a popular figure in the major elections. Fox paid her a salary of more than 7 million yuan. From this point of view, her worth is almost the same as you a year ago. "Cesare said, and both Jim and Jenny showed contemptuous smiles: Maybe Lindsay is indeed the most voted favorite now, but in terms of cumulative box office, Lindsay is no match for Jenny a year ago. A "Pirates of the Caribbean 1" is enough to second her. Not to mention Jenny's awards and endorsements -- Lindsay's agent would be inflated if he thought Jenny wasn't qualified to pick on Lindsay.

"What's the producer's opinion?" Jenny asked. "Is he insisting on using Lindsay too?"

"He also has a good impression of Rachel." Cesare replied, "In fact, Rachel's popularity is not low, and the asking price is cheaper, only 500,000, which is more conducive to controlling the budget. Chris Pai Well——The male vase of "Princess Diaries 2" is 750,000... I am more satisfied with him. As for which one is better, Rachel or Lindsay, I think it is about the same in terms of cost performance. Lindsay is obviously more expensive, while Rachel is too cheap."

It seems that he also has doubts about Lindsay. Jenny flipped through the script and desperately recalled the information of "Unlucky Cupid" in her mind: She has watched "Star Trek" and likes Chris Pie very much. Well, I haven't seen him acted in a movie yet. I only know that he acted in "Princess Diaries 2". There was no information about him in the intervening years, so it is reasonable to infer that "Unlucky Venus" must have not exploded, otherwise she should have seen him in various fashion ceremonies and award ceremonies.

Compared to him, Jenny is more familiar with Lindsay. She seems to have started to make a killing in the past two years. When she is watching gossip news, she can often see people comparing her with Britney. They are all actresses who have a bright future but are in a slump, as if they may overdose and die at any time. Considering that Britney seems to have started to cheer up and get out of the haze in 2007, then Lindsay will start her death journey in 2006 at the latest. Anyway, the last time Jenny watched her movie was "Mean Girls". After that, she seems to have never had any influential works, and she became famous only by killing herself.

She gritted her teeth and read the script again—because it was just an investment, and she didn't need to shoot it herself. She had read several scripts as early as in Hamilton.

"How much do we expect to spend on this film? Eight million?" she asked.

"Well, if Fox doesn't invite Lindsay, the budget will return to about 20 million." Cesare said, "So our investment is close to half, and the right to speak is not low."

For the big six, they will not allow outsiders to get involved in big projects with confidence. On the contrary, such small productions with tens of millions are more likely to accept foreign investment in order to share risks, especially for romance films. Because romance movies are not easy to make sequels, and there are not many peripheral products, so it is not a big deal for the Big Six, and in the contracts signed by the Big Six, they usually have the priority to settle the settlement, that is to say, small companies get money later, The risk is higher, and there is the danger of being swallowed.

As for how to avoid these risks, it is that the Eight Immortals have shown their talents across the sea. Hollywood is by no means a business paradise. You can start from scratch with your extraordinary business talents-this is just a dream, and big companies will do everything they can to protect their own interests. , Seize new territory, the Big Six and their subsidiaries almost share the top 100 box office in North America every year. Looking at the rankings, there are occasional names of independent film companies, and they are all established companies such as New Line and Lions Gate.

In Cesare's plan before, the company will invest in a project with an amount of several million, try to use the 40 million efficiently, and don't idle the money to earn interest. But in the end, there were only two projects that he was interested in and could accept Dameng's investment, so Cesare also increased the investment amount, otherwise the two films would invest one or two million yuan, and he would have no right to speak at all. , It will be a long time before the capital is paid back—needless to say, with such a small investment amount, the settlement priority is very low, and it is possible to settle it for you after two or three years, so it is better to invest 8 million now, He can also talk about the project, and even relying on Cesare's wrist and Jenny's face, he can compete with Fox in the settlement.

"It seems that you are not too enthusiastic about Lindsay." Jenny pondered for a while, and made up her mind, "If Lindsay refuses to accept the drug trial we arranged, let her go, otherwise we will withdraw the funds. I Projects with investment will never cooperate with drug addicts.”

Cesare didn't speak, just nodded to Jim, and Jim took her words down, "So we'll bring up Rachel to Fox?"

"Well," Jenny said, "Also, this script is simply terrible. If Fox is not in the mood to do this project well, it should be straightforward. The idea is good, but the specific script is terrible. Find a cheaper screenwriter to rewrite Can’t you write it once? If you hire Rachel, you can save seven million, and it’s enough to allocate half a million from it.”

She closed her eyes and thought about it, and found a name from the performing arts space, "How about Steve Fabre? He is the screenwriter of "Wedding Crashers", and my instinct tells me that he has great potential. "

Cesare shook his head, "Between the screenwriter and the leading actress, maybe you can only choose to intervene in one thing, otherwise it's better to divest directly-Fox is Fox after all."

"Are you really optimistic about this project?" Jenny really didn't like the script no matter what.

Cesare asked calmly, "Are you really optimistic about Rachel and Steve?"

Jenny and him looked at each other for a moment, and then coughed lightly, "Okay, you trust me, I trust you...then give up the screenwriting and tell Fox to let Lindsay take a drug test."

After "Unlucky Cupid" was decided, "Old Friends Are Rich" progressed smoothly, only some documents needed to be signed by Jenny. the office door.

"How's your opinion manipulator project going?" she asked Jim. "Is there any post that I should take a look at?"

Actually, she also knows that Bell is a B-lister no matter what, and her status cannot be shaken by using black soldiers, but Jenny guesses that Bell will definitely read the posts on the Internet—she will, even if Bell will not, Her PR or agent will also pay attention to these, and eventually the information will be fed back to Bell. Isn't it just money? Elder sister has nothing else, Jianshuijun's small money can still be used, throwing some money at Bell's heart, what you buy is your own comfort. As for other developments, they are all dispensable. She is not naive enough to think that she can control Internet public opinion or even real media public opinion with an idea that can be easily copied.

Jim and Cesare looked at each other. He who had been echoing Cesare and Jenny since just now, suddenly had a confident smile on his face—it could even be said that he was a little proud. He licked his lips, rubbed his hands and took out his laptop from the briefcase. "Regarding this matter, I can guarantee that the progress of the 'Puppet Master' will surprise you..."

The author has something to say: Note: 1 The release time of the films mentioned here has been slightly adjusted. In fact, "The Weatherman" has not yet been released, so let's make it a few months in advance. But this film really hit the street.

2 As for the time of Lindsay's death, it was almost in 2006 when he started to make a big death. Meanwhile, Britney is actually getting better. Hey, what a pity for these two girls.

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Updated!

By the way, I also really want to write about the release of a movie, but unless it’s a few months at a time, there must be a lot of things to explain. After all, it usually takes a year from the production of a movie to its release. The life of a celebrity is very rich. If you want to dominate, it is impossible to keep making movies. There are always many things... And you can't always be bullying, you still have to have a little private life...